Former Mobster Caught Smuggling Marijuana in Wyoming

Henry Robert Sentner, an old school mobster whose rap sheet includes a 15-year prison stint for a 1972 hit on the nephew of New York crime boss Carlo Gambino, was arrested earlier this week for smuggling marijuana in Wyoming.

Smuggling Marijuana in Wyoming

A report from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle indicated that Sentner, now 81-years-old, was busted on Sunday after a Wyoming state trooper pulled him over for a speeding violation.

Although he was released Wednesday on a $3,000 cash bond, he must return next week to answer to felony charges of marijuana possession and possession with intent to deliver. These offenses could put Sentner behind bars for well over 10 years.

It seems that Sentner, who now resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, failed to adhere to one of the first rules of interstate drug smuggling—especially if you’re smuggling marijuana in Wyoming: never go more than five miles an hour over the speed limit with a trunk load of dope.

The report suggested that the officer clocked Sentner on Sunday afternoon doing 10 miles over the legal limit. It was during the traffic stop, the officer reported in the arrest affidavit, that Sentner’s story about how he was traveling across the country from California sounded “implausible.”

This aroused suspicion and prompted a search of the rental car Sentner was driving. While in custody, it became readily apparent that the arresting officer might have made the most interesting bust the area has seen in many years.

District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg called Sentner’s arrest “unique,” because of his connection to a lengthy, high profile criminal history, including the 1972 murder of Emanuel Gambino.

“In the time that I’ve both lived here and been district attorney, this is kind of unique to have somebody of this seasoned, as it were, to still be engaged in this conduct at his age,” Sandburg told the Associated Press.

A Long Criminal History

Stories published by the New York Times back in the 1970s tell the tale of a felonious Sentner, who, among other misdeeds, was convicted in the slaying of a Gambino family member.

His 1972 murder case heated up when the body of Emanuel Gambino was eventually found in a shallow grave in a deserted part of New Jersey. Although Sentner, who was just 29-years-old at the time, maintained throughout his battles with the federal court that he shot Gambino in self-defense during an argument stemming from a gambling debt, he was still sentenced to hard time for several counts of extortion and one for manslaughter.

“I shot an evil man by accident, a man who was hated by many people, a man who caused extensive suffering through illegal traffic in drugs, bookmaking, loan-sharking and muscling into legitimate business,” Sentner said in a written statement, which was read before a federal court back in 1973.

Prosecutors admitted back then that there was no way they could have noosed him with a murder charge. Sentner’s attorney petitioned the court to have him serve out his sentence in an Alabama prison, claiming the Gambino family had placed a “$100,000 contract” on his life.

Two years later, while in the Federal House of Detention, Sentner was admitted to St. Vincent’s Hospital after an attempted mafia hit in which strychnine was put in his cocoa. His transfer was then granted.

As far as Sentner’s latest drug charges go, Sandburg did not believe there would still be any active parole stipulations that could result in Sentner being immediately sent back to prison.

On Wednesday, Sentner told Circuit Judge Thomas Lee that he would come back to Wyoming to face the charges. “I’ll be there,” Sentner said. Sentner is not believed to have any current affiliation with the mob.